Handmade Wardrobe : My recent sewing makes!

One of my greatest passions is to make my own clothing; there’s something incredibly empowering about being able to clothe yourself from scratch and from turning a 2D piece of cloth into something that fits your body like a glove.

I have dreams of being able to sew clothes for a living, dreams that I hope to actively be working towards in the near future. But for now, during this incredibly busy time in our lives, I’ve been satisfying my creative drive by putting my hand to lingerie sewing!

For some reason, lingerie making is something that has daunted me for many years. In the past, I have made simple bralettes and knickers for myself and friends but have shied away from more difficult lingerie construction.

This past year I’ve been making conscious decisions to steer clear of high-street clothing brands where ever possible and to purchase Australian made clothing should I need to. Lingerie and in particular pretty wireless bras and cute knickers have been incredibly difficult to find (there really is a gap in the market!).

Spurred on by my desire to stop supporting high-street brands and their links to sweatshops, I decided to put my hand to bra making and make myself a wire-free bra! I chose to start with a wonderful wireless bra pattern by Cloth Habit called the Watson Bra. I chickened out from purchasing all the materials needed myself and instead headed to Etsy and bought a bra-making kit which included some very thick scuba-stretch fabric and all the trimmings and elastics that I would need.

The first attempt went surprisingly well!

Some details that I realized that I wanted to do differently next time was to encase all internal seams with a tape so that they would be softer on the skin. I also wanted to play around with my elastic techniques and different stitches used on the cradle elastic (that goes around your ribcage).

I was expecting that this first attempt would not be wearable so was pleasantly surprised with how this project turned out.

For my second attempt, I have used a thick 4-way stretch jersey with peach lace overlays and black trims. It was such a sweet meditative experience to hand baste the lace to the fabric pieces late at night and such a joy to see how much more comfortable I have already become with this somewhat fiddly process!

I am so happy with how my second bra sample came out! This time I encased all internal seams with fabric seam tape and took, even more, care when sewing the elastic sections.

The result is a highly wearable bra that fits like a glove and looks surprisingly professional! I even sewed myself some self-drafted lace knickers to match, sacrificing some of my favorite french knickers for their pattern making services.

I couldn’t be more happy with how the newest pieces in my handmade wardrobe came out and I’m looking forward to sharing more of my creative ventures with you in the near future,

Thanks so much Karen <3 That's really sweet of you! Sewing was my first love. I learnt to knit early on in childhood but sewing has been my steady craft throughout everything. I really love it. My dream is to create simple beautiful clothing to sell one day <3